The DishWashing Chronicles of Maki & Taro
by Runawynd
Summary: Then the boss came out and was all like, "The BOTH OF YOU are going to stay an extra fifteen minutes EVERY NIGHT for a WEEK to wash dishes!" And will we get paid for those extra fifteen minutes? As if.
1. The Punishment is Enforced

_Yay for posting the first Cafe Kichijouji fanfiction! I'm quite excited!_

_Also, I considered this story to be a "comedy/friendship..." I'll admit, I don't know if that "friendship" tidbit is accurate, but...  
_

* * *

It seems I've screwed up again. I suppose danger just can't stay away from me. But it wasn't my fault! I mean, usually it isn't.

So around closing time, I was just walking to the back - minding my own business – and decided to go out for a smoke break. It was nice; I sat there all by myself, collecting my thoughts, inhaling and exhaling a pack of light ones…

Then Taro comes out and sees me smoking.

And you know, it doesn't really matter what I'm doing; he'll hate my guts for it.

So for some reason or another, he decided to take his shoe off and toss it at me. I was thinking, "What the heck, man?!" Naturally, his aim is always spot-on, and he nailed me right in the back of the head.

I started yelling at him and snatched the shoe off the ground from him. Then he started yelling at me, and he took his other shoe off to hit me a second time.

And the next thing I knew, the enraged boss came out and shut us both up. Then he was all like, "The BOTH OF YOU are going to stay an extra fifteen minutes EVERY NIGHT for a WEEK to wash dishes!"

And will we get paid for those extra fifteen minutes? As if.


	2. Day 1 Speck of Dirt, Where?

And so I stood there dish-washing. And spending time with my favorite person in the world. Oh boy.

I washed one dish, and then he dried it and put it away. Seems a fair deal, right?

Because the heavy air was totally getting on my nerves, I tried to start a conversation with him. "So, uh-"

"Don't talk to me." He cut me off. Just like that. The nerve.

I shrugged, because I didn't care. Or at least, that's how I wanted it to look.

Sometimes, this really sweet part of me wishes that we could get along. But I guess neither or our male egos were going to admit anything. And neither of us were going to say sorry.

So instead of trying to be all nice to him, I started playing in the bubbles instead. _Smush, smush._ The bubbles were fun to smush; even when they flew up in your face.

He just stood there, waiting for another dish to dry off. Maybe I was just playing in the bubbles to annoy him…? I don't know. But somehow, I splashed some water on his shirt.

Clean-freak that he is, it was pretty obvious to me that he was mad. But did I care? No. So on purpose this time, I scooped some bubbles out of the water and smeared it right across his arm.

You know, I just thought; I think I'm a pretty childish person sometimes.

But childish or not, this was going to be a blast.

He yelled some choice words at me, before he clonked me on the back of the head with that squeaky-clean arm of his.

Then I got annoyed, but I decided that I'd get him some other way. He's an easy target, after all.

As I plotted against the man standing beside me, I placed a clean pan on the counter for him to dry. But as I watched, he didn't even pick it up. He just looked at it, motionless.

"What's your problem? It's clean! Dry it!" I shouted.

He quickly snapped back; he's a snappy kind of guy. "There's a speck of gunk on this pan! I'm not drying this!"

"Tch, you're so freakin' picky." Despite my words, I tossed the "unclean" dish back inside the bubble-filled sink.

Which was still full of dirty dishes, I might add. This was certainly going to be a long night…


	3. Day 2 Maki KO, GAME OVER

Next night. You know, I really dreaded my and Taro's nightly dish-washing routine. I was so sick of it. It stunk.

It almost made me wonder HOW we had all those extra dishes every night. It's like the boss and Minagawa are in cahoots or something, because we manage to do all the dishes after our extra fifteen minutes. Then the next night, it's full again.

Well, whatever. The week is almost half-over anyway.

It's funny; this whole time, me and Taro never really talked to each other much. It was just that same, awkward silence.

But Taro aside… He's a boring person anyway.

I was actually in a pretty good mood that night, believe it or not. I got to wait a table, where there was this really pretty girl. She was new here, and MAN was she cute!

And when I'm happy, I sing.

So, while I washed dishes, I started singing out loud, lyrics and all. At first, Taro tolerated it. But it took a span of two seconds before he slammed me on the back of the head.

Ouch, that kinda hurt. _Maki loses 50HP._

I tried to smack him with the dishrag, to which he gracefully dodged, making me look like a moron. Not to mention, I got water on the floor, and I'll have to dry it before I leave. _Taro parries._

Because I felt like it, I started to whistle. Some people say that if you sing a song, you will suddenly become happy. I wonder if that's true or not?

"I know that song." Taro mumbled, drying off the cup I placed in front of him.

What?! I was like, "Seriously? Then sing with me!!" _Maki casts taunt spell._

He blushed. Wow, that was funny. And cute, in some scary way.

I'll bet fangirls would KILL to see him blush like this! I'll probably pick on him some more for that, too. But if I do, I'll probably get hit again.

_Taro is resistant against all Maki spells._ Then all of a sudden, he saw straight through my mind, looked into my thought bubbles, saw "Aw, that was kinda cute and funny!", then smacked me in the head.

Ouchies. That one REALLY hurt. _-100 HP._

_GAME OVER._

_

* * *

__So Maki's defense is really bad. That character definitely needs to beef his defense with some armor upgrades._


	4. Day 3 Stripping Issues

Day four… Or is it day three? Oh well, I can't seem to remember anymore. This week has just DRAGGED on.

But the more I think about it, the more it seems like just a psychological thing. Because really, I'm only working an extra fifteen minutes to finish the dishes, then me and Taro make a mad dash for the exit.

I pulled up my sleeves, ready to enter the disgusting pile of dishes placed before me.

But when I pulled up my sleeves, I had a thought. Why risk getting dirty water on your shirt? It's awkward pulling your sleeves up, and they always end up falling down anyway.

So why not just… take your shirt off?

And that's exactly what I did. Whoosh, my shirt was off in half a second. I felt so much better. "Well then! Let's get started!"

Taro had his head in one of the cabinets, searching for a new drying cloth. He needed a new one each night. Clean-freak, remember?

But as soon as he turned around to take a gander at my temple of a body, he freaked and hit his head on the cabinet's door.

"What are you doing?" Taro sounded desperate, "Put your shirt back on!"

I felt like I'd won. It was awesome. And plus, I'm way to stubborn to do anything he says, so I left my shirt tucked away on the ground.

I started arguing with him, because that's what we do. "Well, why not? It's much more convenient to take your shirt off. You have to pull up the sleeves, you have to make sure it stays clean…"

That poor guy looked like he wanted to hit me so bad. But it was obvious that he didn't want to touch me, in my half-naked glory.

Adding to his misery, I stated, "It's more comfortable this way."

So I continued doing my job. I was actually having a lot of fun cleaning this one particular strainer. I'd dunk it under the water, then pull it out, and it made a really cool-looking fountain, when the water would stream out of the holes.

A few of the holes didn't work so well, and they'd just kinda drip down. It was fun to look at.

But Taro didn't seem to be impressed with my beautiful fountain discovery. Actually, he didn't seem impressed with anything I did.

Then again, I'm just a moron in the eyes of Taro Kurihara. Whatever. Like I care, right?


	5. Day 4 Long, LONG Night

So day… four, five… "day whatever" was a long one.

While I was going to grab some dish-washing soap - because we were out – Taro was left with setting up the counter.

First off, he left the water running. So I walked in and was like, "Holy crap! There's water all over the floor!" So I dashed over there and turned it off, getting my new shoes totally soaked with water. Luckily, it was JUST water.

Taro came in, saw the mess, and nearly passed out. But instead of apologizing for leaving the water on, he hit me with the towel he was holding. More like, he whipped it at me, which really hurt.

So we're washing dishes, and everything's going well, right? Minus the fact that we had to mop the floor, clean off the dirty counters, and all that jazz.

That was not fun. Plus, it made us stay for an extra fifteen minutes, which was added to our fifteen minutes of washing dishes. So far, I got to spend half an hour with my favorite person in the world. Marvelous.

But wait; there's more.

Then I notice that Taro gets kinda quiet. Not like he's never quiet, because he always is. Especially compared to me. But it was quiet, like he had something on his mind.

So I'm like, "Dude, what's up?" Believe it or not, I'm actually a caring person.

So you know what he said? He goes, "I kinda hafta go." Not like he said that word-for-word, but you know what I mean. He was more like, "I need to use the facilities."

Then he went off towards the bathroom. I'm all by myself now, washing dishes.

Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes. The dishes are all washed; they're just piled up on the "to dry" pile. My part of the job was done, but at that point, I was thinking, "What the heck is he doing in there?"

So I left the empty sink to go find him. Which I probably didn't even NEED to, because like I said, "My part of the job was finished. I could go home. I didn't need to stay an extra hour."

Turns out, he was not using the bathroom. Or at least, not anymore. He was distracted with a magazine about cleansers, which I didn't even know existed.

Apparently, he forgot all about washing dishes, as soon as he found out that there was a sale on an import, vintage vacuum cleaner.

I know, AMAZING, right? He's so boring; I don't think he'll ever get a girlfriend. Although, he IS kind of a pretty boy, if you know what I mean.

…Wait, did I just say that? Crud, I'm so glad I didn't say it out loud.

…Hold on, now that I think about it, I wonder what he'd say if I told him that. I'm so tempted to just-

"Hey, Taro."

"Nn?"

"You're pretty."

An eyebrow was raised, as he stared me down in horror. He looked disgusted, and it almost looked like he didn't know whether to hit me again or just run away. I suppose he's thinking, _And they say I'M the crazy one._

"I was thinking that you're a boring person, man, and was thinking that you're probably not going to get a girlfriend, because you've got weird hobbies and stuff. But then I'm like, 'you're kinda pretty.' Er, pretty-ish, I mean, for a dude. You know?"

Yeah, that got nowhere fast. But instead of just stopping there like a smart person would, I kept going, because that's what my mouth does. It's instinct for me, after all.

"But I guess it could be worse. You could have weird hobbies like Minagawa. But have you ever had a girlfriend before? We spend so much time together, and I never get to learn about you. You're kind of an interesting person."

That's where I shut up. I started saying stuff that I didn't even mean, or something. As if Taro's a super-interesting person, or something.

Keh, or something.

For some reason, even though I KNOW he'll kick my butt afterwards, I still like to tease him anyway. It's asking for certain death, I know, but I can't help myself. Really, I can't.

I expected to be pummeled to death that night, but guess what; I lived! But the weird thing was, he didn't even lift a finger to me. He said nothing; just turned his head away. He did nothing; no punching, no throwing, no kicking, no hitting, etc., etc.

So yeah; AWKWARD NIGHT for the both of us.

Oh, and one last thing… To be calculating, I spent almost an extra hour that I didn't get paid for. I'm so glad we're closed on Sundays.


	6. Day 5 Stormy, Dark Night

Onward, onward, onward…

Or maybe downward, downward, downward…

Nah, it's more like; awkward, awkward, awkward.

So it's the next night, right? And things are actually going pretty smoothly. Especially when comparing to last night's activities.

We had a nice pace going, and we only had about five, big dishes to go. I'm like, "Sweet, I might leave two minutes early!"

Then guess what happens?

…Wait, you'll never be able to guess. How about I help give some background to clarify?

So it's storming hard, right? It's thundering, it's lightning-ing (?), and because it's so loud and obnoxious, I swear it's coming right from the ceiling.

We both just kinda kept quiet. I think storms make Taro antsy or something, because he seems REALLY eager to just go home right now.

Then again, he's always like that. He truly hates spending time with me, and it shows. I think – after spending so many nights with this guy – I've realized that we just really don't mesh together, you know?

But it's not like I just figured that out; we never really got along. But what I just realized during the course of these few days is that it REALLY BUGS ME. It almost made me wish we could get along.

In truth, I couldn't stand how awkward everything had to be, how cold he was acting, and how helpless I was to change the glum situation.

At least, I THINK that's how it goes.

But anyways, there's a storm. And we're doing the dishes pretty quickly. Zooming, in fact. But then, guess what happens?

(By the way, at this point, you could probably take an educated guess…)

(…Okay, maybe not.)

As soon as I stuff my hand into the discolored sink water, the lights get knocked out. The storm knocked the power out.

Then after that, Taro disappeared into the darkness, I'm all alone, I hear voices behind me, then the soup ladle bit me from in the sink, and…

Okay, so I made all that stuff up. But the power really did go out, honest!

It was pitch, frickin' black. I'm trying hard not to freak, because I know Taro's probably wetting himself about now. I gotta look cool, right?

But before I had a chance to do anything heroic, a candle was lit. It seems that Taro kept his cool enough to light a candle…? Yeah, well, it surprised me.

And so, me and my buddy Taro finished washing the dishes by candlelight.

How romantic, right?

Normally, I'd feel like puking, too. But Taro didn't seem fazed by anything, so I guess that's why I wasn't phased either…?

So our job is done for the night, and it's time to blow out the candles and go home.

Can't wait 'till tomorrow, because guess what tomorrow is?

Day Last… As in, the last day of dish-washing with my dish-washing partner, Taro Kurihara.

Yipee.


	7. Day 6 Will This Be Missed? Probably Not

At last, the final day has arrived. It sure took long enough.

I can't say I'm not thrilled to see it come… but at the same time, I feel like chapter-whatever of my life is slowly turning the page. Like this something here is something that I may look back on.

Hah. Maybe. In all honesty, though, I highly doubt it.

Ah, here comes Maki Okubo. That polar opposite enemy of mine. I hate his guts, really I do.

Somehow, when I see him, I get upset for no reason. Ah, no, let me rephrase "for no reason"; EVERYTHING about him upsets me, you know. I won't go into detail, but let's just say we really don't mesh together, you know?

Regardless of feelings (for lack of better word, of course), here I am, early for our dish-washing ritual - as it's been for the past week now (have I mentioned that this is finally the last day?) – and he's always late some way or another. I suppose he despises my presence. It's like he's trying to avoid me until the last minute...

Whatever. Did I mention he's completely childish?

For some reason, Maki is very quiet tonight. I don't know why, but it's none of my business, so I ignore it – ignore HIM.

For some reason, Maki is washing the dishes at a consistent pace. Again, this confuses me, but I say nothing and continue doing my job.

For some reason, Maki isn't his normal, idiotic self. Is he taking his job seriously, or what? Maybe he's trying to speed things up, so he can go home? Maybe he's tired of acting childish? Maybe he's-

I look over at him for the first time that night to see a solemn face. I think that was the first time I'd ever seen THAT look on his face.

And you know what? For some reason, I felt interested. Whoa, now before you misunderstand, let me - again - rephrase; I felt interested enough to care.

Clearly, my head is in a daze. Why else would I start wondering about Maki? Before this odd situation got anywhere else, I did what was practical; shut him out, as I often do. I turn my head away and try to just ignore him. But all the while, a stupid voice in my head (most likely, the odd author of this fanfiction) kept fearing for his well-being.

My reasoning for it being the fanfic author? Because there wasn't anyway that I – Taro Kurihara – would ever be interested in the affairs of a moron like Maki Okubo. Obviously.

After finishing about a good half of the dishes, I noticed that circulation of dishes needed to be dried was dwindling. Ah, as in, the dishes were coming in a lot slower. Meaning that Maki was washing them a lot more slowly.

"Are you doing that on purpose?" I heard myself ask him.

"Wha-? Doing what on purpose?" _Snap! _His facial expression came back, as soon as his voice did.

Hah, as if you couldn't tell, Maki… "You're being slow. Pick up the pace."

A smirk SLOWLY crept along his face, melting all solemnity that previously resided. _Oh no, what have I done? _He spoke slowly and used careful enunciation. "You know what, man? I'm thinking we should not finish this pile of dishes tonight."

Wow, I didn't see that one coming. Then again, with Maki, everything's a surprise. "Why would-"

"Think about it!" He tossed a mostly-clean plate back inside the dirty water (which can be a good or bad thing). My train of thought went one of two places, _What a waste, now you get to wash that again, dork. _Then switched to_ Oh well, it wasn't 100% clean, anyway.  
_

Yes, I really do think of him as a dork. …But don't tell him I said that! Maybe I shouldn't 've told you… I think – maybe – there's something weird about tonight. Why else would I be speaking such feelings so freely… I have to go home. I've gotta get out of here.

He continued his perfectly-sane logic. "If we don't finish it-" _Don't say it._ "then we could probably-" _Please don't say it._ "be dish-washing buddies-" _Make it stop._ "for another week!"

_Slam!_ A quick impulse of mine forced my arm to open the cabinet nearest Maki's head, which connected perfectly with his forehead, and set him backwards at least four feet. Such a nice feeling…

Afterwards, he merely rubbed his sore forehead, mumbled a few choice words, then commenced the dish-washing. No further insults were shot, oddly. But I like it better that way. Plus, it definitely helps speed up our work.

Our night came and went, as did the extra time we ended up sharing together. The time that - through Maki's stupidity and my stubbornness - was unexpectedly thrown towards us for a fateful, short while. Walking home, alone, I was left tending to my annoying, poking and prodding thoughts.

It seems as though I may end up missing it.

...But then again... maybe not.


End file.
